Above, St. George's Square, Glasgow

The first Wighton to appear in Glasgow's records was James Wighton who married Cathrin McLeish in 1778. The couple went on to have 4 children. From that point on, there was a steady, albeit small, stream of Wightons marrying and having children: 9 between 1778 and 1800; 17 between 1801 and 1820; 7 between 1821 and 1840; and, 9 between 1841 and 1855. In all 42 Wightons lived in Glasgow during my research period. There is little evidence to suggest that these were home grown Glasgowians. Rather, it's likely that families moved into Glasgow, had families, and those children then married and had children elsewhere.

As you would expect, living conditions during the Industrial Revolution would not have been good and we can only imagine what hardships these Wightons faced. As in Dundee, tenement buildings were standard fare. A picture of a relatively modern Glasgow with a solid block of such tenements is shown below.

John Murray Wighton (Generation 6) was the first member of the Meigle line to live in Glasgow. John Murray worked in the Scottish Prison service and had an assignment at Barlinnie Prison. We're not sure exactly when his service at Barlinnie began, but we do know that he was in Milngavie, a residential community 7 miles north-west of Glasgow in 1908 when his daughter Ella Burns Wighton was buried in the town. He continued to work at Barlinnie until 1919 when he retired to the Isle of Mann.

That would put John Murray Wighton in Glasgow in 1916 when his son, Harry Wighton, arrived with his wife (Miriam) and his two children (Ella and John) by steamship S.S. Pretorian from Montreal, Canada. Harry and family had been living in Vancouver, BC when the Great War began. Harry had emigrated to Scotland some years before and decided to return to provide service to his country during the war. Harry worked in a Glasgow munitions factory - one of which is shown in the picture below. A third child, James, was born in Glasgow on December 31, 1916. The family returned to Canada via the United States in October, 1918.

Sources

ScotlandsPeople Database: http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/

Previous reading: The History of Glasgow